Watertight electrical connector



July 4, 1961 F. E. BUTLER ETAL I 2,991,441

WATERTIGHT ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR Filed Feb. 18, 1959 INVENTORS. FRANCISE. BUTLER SYLVAN WOLF United States Patent 6 2,991,441 WATERTIGHTELECTRICAL CONNECTOR Francis E. Butler, Washington, D.C., and SylvanWolf,

College Park, Md., assign'ors to the United States of America asrepresented by the Secretary of the Navy Filed Feb. 18, 1959, Ser. No.794,210

2 *Claims. (Cl. 339-106) (Granted under Title 35, U8. Code (1952), sec.266) The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by orfor the Government of the United States of America'for governmentalpurposes without the payment of any royalties thereon or therefor.

This invention relates to a watentight connection for electrical cablesand a water stop within the cable.

In mine practice as done by the Navy such as in the placing ofunderwater mines, the actuation of the mines, or their recovery, a drillmine or a mine using a signal rather "than the actual explosive is used.Such a mine has an outside cable connection, which in order to protectthe intricate and complicated machinery within the mine, must bewatertight. These connections which are submerged to as much as a depthof 400 feet are subjected to high pressures with a possibility of actualbreaking of the cable. The problem is to make a quick connector whichwill be watertight with respect to the mine but also be formed with awater stop to prevent water coming in along the wires of the cable incase of breakage of the cable.

An object of this invention is to provide a cable connector which may bepassed through an opening in the mine, and which may be made watertightand at the same time provided with a water stop.

Another object of the invention is to provide a connector which providesboth a water stop along the wires of the cable and a watertight sealbetween the connector and the mine.

Still another object is the use of an epoxy resin as a potting materialto securely hold the threaded casing to the cable and at the same timeprovide a water stop for the wires of the cable.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this inventionwill be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood byreference to the following detailed description when considered inconnection with the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal section of the female portion of the connectorwithout the potting compound;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal section of the connector with the parts joinedand the potting compound included;

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal section of the male portion of the connectorwithout the potting compound; and

FIG. 4 is a cross-section slightly enlarged on lines 4-4 of FIG. 1.

The connector which is illustrated in the accompanying drawing whereinlike parts are designated by like numbers throughout the several viewsis designed to be threaded into the wall 10 of a drill mine and is madeup of a female section 12 and a male section 14.

Referring particularly to FIG. 1, the female section is formed of asubstantially cylindrical sleeve, formed with centrally located exteriorthreads 16 fitting the threaded opening 18 in the wall 10 of a drillmine. The inside section which is that section at the right end of thesleeve in FIGS. 1 and 2 is interiorly threaded at 20 and houses the endsof the Wires 22 of the cable 24. The flat extensions 26 of tubes 28extend into this inside section and are connected to the wires 22 byreceiving the wires through a hole 30 and having the ends of the wires22 wrapped about the extensions 26 and soldered thereto.

A plug 32 of insulating material such as Bakelite Patented July 4, 196Thouses the tubes 28 and is seated against three arcuate interiorlyprojecting rim sections 34 (FIG. 4) which aligns the end of the tubeswith the annular interior shoulder 36. Extending outwardly of the drillmine and to the left as viewed in FIGS. 1 and 2, an enlarged portion ofthe sleeve is adapted to receive the male section 14. Starting with theinterior shoulder 36, the sleeve with an enlarged bore extends to asecond shoulder 38 upon which the annular stepped collar 40 of the'malesection seats. The enlarged section of the sleeve hasan annular exteriorshoulder 42 against which rests a washer 44, which in turn contacts anO-ring 46. The O-ring 46 is compressed against the wall 10 and forms aseal' be tween the female section and the wall of the drill mine, thewasher serving to prevent rupturing of the soft O-ring seal when thefemale section is threaded into the wall opening 18.

-A male section (FIG. 3) is in the form of a sleeve having anannularcollar 48 at one end, and a second stepped annular collar 40 (abovereferred to) fitting the interior contour of the female section. Betweenthe collars an annular exterior groove 50 carries an O-ring 52 whichcontacts the inner surface of the sleeve or female section 12 to effecta sealing relation between the male and female sections. Carried withinthe male section 14 and flush with the end is a plug 54 which locatesand supports a pair of contact pins 56 to which are connected wires 58of a cable 60. Closely wrapped about the ends of the cables 24 and 60and housed entirely within the respective sections of the connector is awire 62. This wire is tightly wrapped, three full turns for a definitepurpose, disclosed hereafter.

After the wires 22 and 58 are connected respectively to the tubes andpins the interior space left between the inner surface of the female andmale sections and the inwardly carried tubes, pins and ends of cable, ispotted with an epoxy resin. The resin, in liquid form, is poured intothe cable end of the male section, the plug 54 sealing the end andpreventing escape of the potting compound. With the female section aremovable disc 64 formed of a substance to which the potting materialwill not adhere is firmly held against the shoulder 36 and the pottingcompound poured in at the cable end to com pletely fill the sleeve. Theinterior threads 20 and the coiled wire 62 serve to bind the cable,potting compound and connector together, particularly preventing anyturning of the cable when the female section is threaded into the wall10. The potting compound forms a water stop should the cable break whilethe O-rings provide a seal between the connector and the wall of themine as well as between the sections of the connector.

Obviously many modifications and variations of the present invention arepossible in the light of the above teachings. It is therefore to beunderstood that within the scope of the appended claims the inventionmay be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent ofthe United States is:

l. A watertight cable connector, comprising a female section, a malesection having an O-ring seal, said male section to be friction fittedto said female section, a plug of insulating material in said femalesection, tubes housed within said plug and each tube having one of itsends flush with the end of the plug, a Wire cable having its end withinthe female section and having its individual wires electricallyconnected to said tubes in said female section, said cable extendingbeyond said female section, potting means securing the end of the cablewithin said female section to said female section and in watertightsealing relationship with said female section, said potting meansembedding the electrical connections between said tubes and theindividual wires of said cable, a plug in said male section, pinsmounted in said last named plug extending beyond the plug and the malesection for insertion into the tubes of said female section, a wirecable having its'endwithin said male. section and having its individualwires electrically connected to the pins in said male section, secondpotting means securing the cable end and plug in said male section inwatertight sealing relation, said second potting means embedding theuninsulated portion of the individual wires of the cable in said malesection and all portions of the pins within the confinesof said malesection, the portions of said pins extending beyond the male sectionbeing of less length than the length of the tubes within the plug tocause the exposed ends of the pins to be housed entirely within thetubes, so that all individual wires, pins and tubes are embedded ininsulating material, and a pair of wire coils, each of said coils beingtightly wrapped around each cable end within the confines of the maleand female sections respectively and the center turns thereof equallyseparated from each other, the individual turns of the coils beingembedded in the potting means securing the cable end to a depthsubstantially equal to the diameter of the coil wire, said potting meansengaging each turn of the coil throughout the entire circumference ofthe turn to secure the cable ends respectively to the male and femalesection in watertight relation therewith.

2. A watertight cable connector according to claim 1 wherein the ends ofthe cables are concentrically mounted in the male and female sections,all portions of the cable ends and the tightly wrapped coil being spacedfrom the male and female sections.

References Citedin the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 402,007Dewees Apr. 23, 1889 1,766,593 Brarnwell June 24, 1930 2,414,498 Warneret a1. Jan. 21, 1947 2,536,173 Hamilton Jan. 2, 1951 2,605,315 HargettJuly 29, 1952 2,629,922 Finch Mar. 3, 1953 2,761,111 Klostermann Aug.28, 1956 2,813,922 Arnold Nov. 19, 1957 2,869,099 Robinson Jan. 13, 19592,945,203, Quackenbush July 12, 1960

